A recent study published in psychology journal Acta Psychologica has uncovered a significant relationship between persistent negative self-referent thinking and current depressive symptoms in adolescents. The research reveals that while such thinking patterns are associated with depression levels at the moment, they do not necessarily predict future depressive symptoms.
Depression, a prevalent mental health issue, has been extensively studied, particularly how it relates to the way individuals process information. Research has consistently shown that people with depression often have a negatively biased way of thinking, especially about themselves. This might manifest as beliefs like “I am untrustworthy” or “I am unhappy.”
Until now, most of this research has been focused on adults. However, cognitive functions — including those linked to depression — mature during adolescence. As such, understanding how these patterns emerge and develop in younger individuals is crucial, as this knowledge may help in identifying early signs of depression and pave the way for preventive measures.
The research team, led by Eline Belmans at KU Leuven Research University, embarked on this study to explore the potential link between persistent negative self-referent thinking and depressive symptoms among adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial developmental stage where cognitive functions are still evolving. By focusing on this age group, researchers aimed to shed light on whether patterns of depressive cognition observed in adults also manifest in younger individuals, and whether they could serve as early indicators of depressive symptoms.
The study involved 145 adolescents in their last two years of secondary school in Belgium. Researchers utilized a unique approach known as the Emotional Reversal Learning Task (ERLT). This decision-making task required participants to choose between focusing on negative or positive aspects of themselves. Initially, choosing negative aspects was rewarded, but later in the task, this was reversed to being punished. The aim was to see how quickly participants could adapt their thinking as the rewards and punishments changed. In addition to the ERLT, participants completed questionnaires measuring their depressive symptoms.
The study’s findings were twofold. First, it was observed that adolescents who showed a tendency to persistently engage in negative self-referent thinking, indicated by their slower adaptation to the changed reward conditions in the ERLT, had higher levels of depressive symptoms concurrently. In other words, adolescents with depression are more likely to cling to the belief that thinking negatively about themselves is beneficial — even when it ceases to be rewarded.
Surprisingly, this pattern of thinking was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms at a two-month follow-up, meaning that while it is a concurrent feature of depression, it may not necessarily be a causal factor in its development or continuation.
Overall, the study highlights the role of persistent negative self-referent thinking in current levels of depressive symptoms. These findings offer a new understanding of depressive cognition during a critical developmental stage, and open doors for further research and potential preventive strategies in adolescent mental health.
However, one notable aspect of this study is the reliance on participants’ self-reporting during the ERLT without verification of whether they actually retrieved the memories they claimed to have. Additionally, the reward system in the ERLT was based on points, which may not fully capture the complexity of social reinforcement mechanisms in real life. The study also did not differentiate between specific types of negative thinking, such as negative self-thinking versus general negative thinking, and the follow-up period of two months might have been too short to observe longer-term changes in depressive symptoms.
The study, “Depressive symptoms and persistent negative self-referent thinking among adolescents: A learning account” was authored by Eline Belmans, Filip Raes, Bram Vervliet, and Keisuke Takano.